1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to yarn craft such as the formation of Ojos, and particularly to a method and apparatus for modularly creating such Ojo type arrangements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The ancient yarn craft of creating colorful yarn covered structures by wrapping yarn about a framework in a geometric pattern to form Ojos or "Eyes of God" was originated in North America by the Pueblo and Mexican Indians. Traditionally, the craft of yarn winding has been worked in a criss-cross manner over a framework composed of wood dowels or flat sticks, which were first crossed to form precise angles between them and were then attached at their centers by either gluing or nailing in order to insure the permanence of these mathematically correct angles. Alternatively, center-notched sticks have been used for forming simple structures like a cross but these simple structures are generally glued together in order to insure the necessary strength at the connection center. In either event, the formation of these arrangements requires skill on the part of the user. Furthermore, such arrangements are not modular and therefore suffer from many drawbacks. For example, while wrapping yarn over sticks to form Ojo type arrangements it is a difficult task, particularly for the unskilled, to maintain the desired geometrically correct structure. It is even more difficult to wrap the yarn over a very large structure or to assemble two or more of the finished designs. Such drawbacks are not present in applicant's system due to both the modularity of the system and the use of preformed cores or center pieces or components, such as pre-molded plastic center components having a plurality of poles protruding radially outward from these center components. These preformed center components may be any desired geometric configuration and, accordingly, the poles would extend planar in several directions forming the exact geometrical configuration, such as a cross, a hexagon, an octagon and the like.
The modularity of the system of the present invention enables the user to gradually work on wrapping poles of modularly increasing length by adding additional length as the previous length becomes wrapped, thereby avoiding the cumbersome arrangements of the prior art which would require the user to start with a fixed length pole. In addition, the modularity of the system of the present invention enables the user to interconnect a plurality of systems through their center components to form much more intricate or sophisticated designs than were possible with the prior art. In the modular system of the present invention, tubes of varying length are mounted to the center components and subsequently wrapped with colored fiber or yarn forming the desired designs. The configuration of the components is such that substantially the same diameter is maintained at the zones of connection so as to insure the continuous flush wrap important to Ojo-type designs. The finished designs associated with a single core may then be interconnected to other such designs to form larger design structures, thereby enabling such larger design to be formed in a modular fashion.
Modularity in a general sense is well known and, thus, model kits for building a wide variety of geometrical structures are well known. These kits, however, have no relationship to the art of forming Ojo-type arrangements. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,208,049; 2,313,357; 3,698,123 and 814,367 disclose structural toys consisting of long elements connected by various joint pieces, rings and connecting discs to form an architectural structure or a replica of a machine or vehicle. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,939,581 discloses the use of interlockable plastic tubes and coupling members for building models of organic molecular structures while U.S. Pat. No. 3,469,339 relates to interconnecting plastic tubes of the same diameter which can be inserted through each other in perpendicular relation. None of these arrangements however is even remotely suggestive of yarn craft and, accordingly, none of them discloses the use of a (continuously flush) modular framework for forming Ojo-type arrangements.
As was previously mentioned, the craft of yarn wrapping is an ancient tradition in Mexico as described in a publication entilted "The Creative Ojo Book" by Diane Thomas, Hunter Publishing Comp., Phoenix, Ariz., Copyright 1975. As set out in this publication, prior art Ojo-type arrangements employ wooden elements which form the basic structure which, in order to provide a permanent tight fit and mathematically correct angles at the connection centers, have to be first notched by the user or supplier and then glued and nailed together. As further set out in the publication, mathematically correct angles, such as usually 30.degree., 45.degree., 60.degree. and 90.degree., must be maintained in the framework which may become a problem when attempting to assemble the sticks by gluing or nailing, such as by an unskilled user, specifically when more than two sticks are used. A further disadvantage of this traditional method and system becomes readily apparent if it is desired to form larger structural designs which would be either impossible or extremely difficult to achieve with the traditional methods.